Eva Mendes would start off the new millennium with a breakthrough role alongside Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke in Antoine Fuqua’s Training Day. She would parlay that into a rising career with roles in films like 2 Fast 2 Furious, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Hitch and The Place Beyond the Pines. The latter film is where Ryan Gosling would enter her life and her priorities would eventually shift from her acting career to being a mother to her and Gosling’s family after tying the knot. Mendes has often been asked about unceremonious retirement, where she replies, “I got tired fighting for the good roles…There just was a point where I thought, ‘I’m going to create my own opportunities and become a producer on things and create my own material,’ but it just didn’t feel worth it to me.”
According to Deadline, Mendes explained what would coerce her to come back to acting when she was interviewed by The Sunday Times. Mendes said she would only return to acting if the project was also with her husband, “That’s the one thing I would love to do.” She expounded that leaving the film world was a pretty easy decision for her, “I was never in love with acting. I don’t mean this in a self-deprecating way, but I wasn’t a great actress. I had my moments when I worked with really great people.” She mentioned that she was proudest of the projects she got to do with Gosling — The Place Beyond the Pines and Drunk History Christmas. “He gets something out of me that’s never been accessible before.”
She has considered what she would do if she were to un-retire, but now with a family, she had whittled down her ambitions, “I have such a short list of what I will do, with four kids. I mean, if it was a fun project. But now I won’t do violence, I don’t want to do sexuality, the list is short.” Mendes would show her support of Gosling’s latest films, especially Barbie. Whenever certain backlash would become vocal online, she responded, “So proud of my man. So much hate when he took on this role. So many people trying to shame him for doing it. Despite all the #NotMyKen ridicule and articles written about him, he created this completely original, hilarious, heartbreaking, now iconic character and took it all the way to Oscars. So beyond proud to be this Ken’s Barbie.”